AS the dust settled on Wales’ record defeat to England, head coach Gareth Jenkins stood defiant in the defence of his plans building up to next months World Cup.

Wales crashed to a humiliating 62-5 loss in west London on Saturday as they leaked nine tries and could notch only one themselves scored by winger Dafydd James.

But Jenkins, who will announce his World Cup squad this Friday – four days earlier than the August 14 deadline – is adamant Wales will still be competitive come the big competition next month.

Jenkins said: "We’ve had a clear plan and know we are capable of being a really competitive team.

"Playing England was a part of the process and it was about going to Twickenham to get as much out of it as we could.

"I didn’t feel Twickenham was the place to show our hand and really felt there was a need to condition what I call first-group players.

"It was always the case we were going to give a chance to the 40 players in our squad. In the long term we’ll get payback from that as coaches, and we’ll have a trust and regard from the players that are involved in Welsh rugby going forward.

"We commit to our values and deliver them and in the environment we’re in that is key going forward, and we’ve done that.

"A lot of the players at Twickenham were third-choice players and I felt all the way going through the build-up and the plan that we had nothing to benefit from Twickenham.

"There were 18 players at home training on Saturday morning, training on Friday, training on Thursday.

"They’ve had the benefit of that extra development and they’re unaffected by it (the defeat)."

Jenkins will also on Friday name his line-up to take on Argentina in Cardiff on August 18, and claimed there will be some big changes in personnel, particularly the line out.

"I really do believe that personnel are key to our lineout, in particular," said Jenkins. "We’ve got those personnel and it’s about composure and identifying the type of calls we need to make.

"There were hard lessons, we realise our scrum and line-out has to improve 100%.

"But a key priority for the summer was to build ourselves physically and I think we’ve achieved that.

"We felt a bit shell-shocked but we’ve refocused, reorganised, and we’ve had an honest morning this morning with the players.

"Defensively we targeted areas that we actually achieved – we said we had to make 90% tackle completions and we did.

"They made three line breaks having had the ball for 70% of the time, we’ve made two line breaks with 29% of the ball.

"There’s no doubt that if we get enough ball we can be a threat. You’ll see our better players and our depth in the next two games."

And Jenkins also made a promise to Welsh fans that he, his staff and the players would be going all out to restore faith after the disappointment in west London.

He added: "I’m sure there will be a different reaction when you see our performances against France and Argentina.

"What we do want is for the Welsh public to have trust and faith in us. There is a lot more to come out of this Welsh team."

But Jenkins believes Wales will bounce back and come good for the start of next month’s World Cup in France.

He added: "Saturday was part of the big process we’ve been involved in over the last 12 months. We’ve always been pretty comfortable in where we are trying to go.

"The whole plan for the last year has been about September 4, not August 4. When we looked at this period of opportunity and friendly matches, the view we took really was that the key matches were the home games against Argentina and France.

"Our view all the way through was that going to Twickenham was a no-win situation.

"It was about supporting our view of the squad and giving people the last opportunity to be a part of the selection process before we actually announced the squad."

JPR Williams and Dennis Gethin have been nominated to seek selection as the new president of the Welsh Rugby Union.

The successful candidate will replace Glanmor Griffiths, who was has decided not to stand for re-election following the WRU’s annual general meeting in October.

Williams, 55, boasts a remarkable playing pedigree having won 55 caps for Wales and eight for the Lions during the 1970s.

Gethin, 63, won two Cambridge blues and played for both Neath and Cardiff. He was secretary of the WRU between 1998 and 2002 and is currently a member of the Broadcasting Council of Wales.

All votes must be cast by the WRU’s member clubs, regions and association by August 31.

The identity of the new president will be announced once the votes have been counted and confirmed by external scrutineers.